Register



June 25, 1929. ROOKE 13718.58?!

REGISTER Filed Jan. 28, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet l June 1929- G. F. ROOKIE 1,?18,5S3

' REGISTER Filed Jan. 28, 1926 2 Sheets-3i1sei if?" 7 @07 a Patented June 25, 1929.

UNIT ED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE F. ROOKE, 0F PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR T0 ROOKIE AUTOMATIC REGISTER COMPANY, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

REGISTER.

Application filed January 28, 1526. Serial No. 84,411.

The present invention relates to registers for receiving and counting coins and other devices representing value, whet-her real or arbitrary. For example the form of the invention here shown is adapted to the street railway business to be used by tare collectors in collecting fares from passengers, and in that case the evidences of value may be coins of currency, or tickets or tokens having arbitrary value for the particular purposes of the business. The utility and scope of the invention, however, are notlimited to the business or use above mentioned for illustration, but applicable to any situations and combinations where coins and tickets or the like are to be collected and accounting rendered of their collection. Accordingly, the scope of the invention and of the protection which I claim relates to a regis ter for any purpose connected with the receipt and counting of such coins, etc.

My present invention has for its object lirst to provide, for the use of such registers means for grasping the circumference of the inserted coin and pulling it into the register; second to provide, in connection with such a register having a movable coin carriage and a latch for holding it in set position, a simplified mechanism for setting such latch; andthird to make such latch setting mechanism ei'lfective either to prevent a second operation of the counter when a coin has become caught under the latch and has failed to pass through the machine, or to give warning to the collector that the coin has become so caught. In patentsgranted to myself and to George'lV. Tlurln'disclosure has been made oit'rg'ripping means adapted to engage the opposite faces of the coin, but when such grippers aresufliciently dull and encounter a coin which is sufficiently smooth they are liable to slip off from the coin without pulling it through. The coin grasping means which forms the subject of the present invention is independent of the roughness or smoothness of the coin,-and depends on the diameter and peripheral outline of the coin for the purpose of gripping.

The embodiment of the invention chosen for illustration herein is a portable register adapted for the use of street railway conductors in collecting fares, and in the following explanation of the invention'I shall describe it with particular reference to that embodiment and use, but with the under- ,itcd.

standing that the scope of the invention and the protection which I claimare not so lim- In this specification the term coin is used with generic significance as including t ckets and all other articles of real or arbitrary value designed to be collected and counted with the aid of registers embodying this invention.

In the drawings forming a part of this pecitication I have shown the above specified embodiment of the invention removed from the case in which it is enclosed for use. That is, the drawings show the essential parts of the machine, without the case, which is practically necessary to safeguard the machine from being tampered with, but is notan essential so far as the novel principles of the present invention are concerned.

Figure 1 ol the drawings is a front elevation of said machine;

Fig. v2 is a side elevation of the machine asseen from theright of Fig. 1;

Flg. 3 is an elevation similar to Fig. .1 ot the upper par-tot the machine with omission of the setting mechanism;

Fig. etis a similar View showing the posit on of the grippers immediately after insertion of a com;

Fig. 5 is a similar view showing the position of the carriage and coin grippers after the carriage has pulled in the coin;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 66 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a similar section taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 3 shown on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 8 is a perspective View of a fragment of the frame and the latch setting means associated therewith i Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the locking dog by which the movable carriage is locked in said position;

Fig.10 is a perspective view of the latch by which said lock is released;

Fig. 11 is a rear elevation of the machine;

Fig. 12 is a plan view of the machine.

Fig. 13 is a cross section taken 0n-line1313 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 14 is a perspective view of the movable coin gripping jaw with its associated cam lever.

Like reference characters designate the same parts wherever they occur in all thefigures.

The machine comprises a frame, having a passageway though it for the coin, a carriage mounted to slide on the frame, a register, and coin-grasping, carriage-setting, and registeroperating mechanisms associate with the parts above named. The frame, as here represented, is ;a box-like structure having parallel external faces and composed of front and back plates 12 and spacing bars 34, there being an open space 5 forming a coin chute, between said plates and bars. The carriage 6 is formed of members suitably shaped and connected to embrace the frame and have a sliding bearing thereon. A plate 7 having its opposite edges bent over at 8 and 9 fits freely in the interior space of the frame, and is structurally a part of the carriage, being connected thereto by rivets or equivalent means 10 passing through a slot 11 in the rear of the frame, and spaced apart from the upper rear member of the carriage by a spacing block 12. The plate so formed carries coin grippers 13 and 14, and may be termed the gripper-supporting part of the carriage.

On the front side of the frame is secured a plate 15, suitably mounted and spaced apart from the frame to leave room for the travel of the carriage, and such'plate affords support for a combined gear and cam wheel 16, an intermediate gear 17', a rack plunger 18, and

'mcchanisms by which movement of said plunger is adapted to rotate the wheel 16 in one direction. The means for imparting movement from the plunger to the wheel 16 may be the same as shown in prior patents, and

are therefore not described herein. A pitman 19 is connected with a crank pin 20 on the wheel 16, and with a stud 21 on the carriage, said stud forming a wrist pin, and the pitman being connected to it by a screw 22.

On the rear side of the main frame is secured a plate 23 on which is rotatably mounted a drum or spring barrel 24, containing a spring similar to themain spring of a watch, and around said barrel is wrapped a tape 25 secured at one end to the barrel and connected at the opposite end to a pin 26 projecting from the carriage. I

A register or counter 27 is secured to the frame and is driven from the gear wheel 17. Said counter may be of any character suitable to be operated in the manner indicated, and therefore to count the number of trips of the carriage or values depending thereon.

Movement inward of the plnger 18, which may be efiected,'when the machine is held in the operators hand, by drawing the base of his thumb and the ends of his fingers toward one another, rotates the wheel 16 and raises the carriage through the action of pitman 19; at the same time drawing out the tape 25 and winding up the spring in the barrel 24. The carriage is locked in its raised position by a latch plate 28 which is pivoted on the stud 21 and has a stud or lug. 29 adapted to seat on a latch abutment 30 which projects from the rear of the frame A spring 31 is wrapped about the stud 21, and one end of the spring bears against a pin 32 on the latch plate, while its other end acts against a stop pin 33 on the carriage. The pin 32 passes into a slot 34 in the pitman 19. Vhen the carriage is being raised the upper end of the pitman swings to the right, with respect to Figure 1, and by pressing on the pin 32 swings the latch plate aside far enough to enable its stud 29 to slide along the inclined side face 30 of the abutment 30, and when this stud has passed said abutment it is snapped by the springover the top of the abutment, the pitman having been in the meantime swung backward (to the left) far enough by continued rotation of the wheel 16 to permit such movement. But the locking plate stud is prevented from immediately passing off from the abutment at the other side, by a trigger lever 35. pivoted by means of a rod 36 seated in a hole 37 in a block 38, which block is fastened to the front plate of the frame and is part of the same piece with the abutment 30. The trigger lever has a stop arm preferably equipped with a roller 39, which lies in the path of a stop finger 40 on the latch plate, and in a position to obstruct said stop finger when the stud 29 is directly over the abutment 30. The trigger lever also has a trigger arm or finger 41 which extends across the upper end of the coin chute or space 5 in the frame and is adapted to be displaced. so as to release the latch, when a coin is inserted.

In order to place the trigger in positionfor obstructing the latch plate when the carriage is being set, I provide a 'bellcrank lever having arms 42 and 43, the same being preferably of a resilient character and made of a springwire which is coiled about a stud 44 (about which it may turn as on a pivot) projecting from the block 38, the ends of said wire being disposed to form the arms as shown. There is provided on the pitman 19 a cam surface 45 arranged to engage the offset end of arm 42, when rising and to move said arm to the left by cam action. The arm 43 lies close to the obstructing arm of the trigger and above a pin or abutment 46 on the latter, in such relation that, when the arm 42 is thus moved to the left, the arm 43 is moved downward and, by engagement with the abutment 46, places or holds the obstructing arm 39 in the path of the latch stop linger 40. But when the pitman has passed to the limit of its movement in setting the carriage, a deep notch adjacent to the cam surface lies beside the engaging part of the arm 42, leaving the trigger controlling lever free to be moved by the trigger when the latter is displaced by an inserted coin. Even without this freedom, however, the trigger can still be depressed by the coin when the trigger controlling lever is of the springy construction here described. I

The coin grippers 13 and 14 previously mentioned are arran ed in the widest dimension-of thecoin passage, so that when the coin or ticket is 'inserted the grippers and the coin are incthe same plane. '1 hese grippers extend above the frame andtrigger to such distance that the widest part of the coin must pass within their extremities when the coin trips the latch. The rippers areznearesttogether attheir extremities, and the space between them is'widened'below such extremities. One

of the grippers, as theagripper 14:, is movable, being pivoted to the carriage at a suitable point 47 below its extremity, and to it is connected-an arm-148 .lyingelose to the wall of the coin passage :and thin enough to leave free space for the coin. This armsis o'fi'setso .as toe'passthrougha slot 49in thefront plate 1 oft-he frame, and throughan opening 50 inthe ;earriage,'and itsextremity lies'in front of the carriage, having on its end .a'hook 51 connectcdbya spring 52with a pin 53 on the carriage. The part of the arm 48 which passes through the slot 49 lies near an arm 54 on the latch plate and undera pin 55=which projects rearwardly'rfrom said arm. .Acam 56 is formed on that part ofthe-arm 48 lying nearest the pin 55.

lVhen the machine -is:set in position to receive the min, the latch plate is engaged with the latch abutment 30 and with the trigger,

and is'in the position shown in Figure 3.

Thenthe pin .55lies atone side ofthe cam 56 lvhen the coin is inserted and trips the trigger, the latch plate immediatelyswings to the left, with respect :to Figure? and the pin.55 rides up on the eamsurface 56, there-' by tilting the ,gripperfinger :14 toward the fixed -gripper13, at the same time that the "but is positively engagedand pulled into the machine. Althoughlhave applied the name grippers tothe members which thus engage the coin,.they are grippers only in the sense that they prevent the coin from being withdrawn or heldiback. They do not or need not otherwise restrain the coin, but preferably are soformed as to leave a clear space through which the coin may drop to the lower end of the passage inthe frame, and thence into the collcctors hand; or into any other depositoryprovided in connection with the machine.

The movement of the locking plate in the direction thus described is limited by a a tail piece 58onthe-plate28wvhich comes into engagenient with the pin 33, the latter being 'thusa stopfor the latch plate as well as an abutment't'or the latch plate spring. hen the latch plate is thus arrested, its lug or stud 29 is clear of the latching abutment 30 and its pin 5.5 is over thetop part of the cam surface 56; and such portion of the cam surface is so nearly at right angles to the path in which the cam has its movement about the finger ,14,'that the pin 55 acts as a positive lock which cannot be displaced by any force applied to the gripper 1i, and thus prevents the coin from being released from the grippers.

Coin grasping means of the character thus described are evidently efi'cctive no matter what may be the condition of the surfaces of the coin, whet-her'rough or smooth, and are therefore effective in circumstances where pointed fingers adapted to engage the faces of the coin would slip off and be ineffective. These present fingers are effective with all circular coins or token of theappropriatc diameter, or with tokens of other shape provided they have ditl'crcntwidths in dillcrent parts, with a portion of narrower width related to portion of greater width and to the advancing extremity ofthe token in a substantially equivalent. way to that herein described.

As the carriage is moved under the influence of the spring it imparts movement to the wheel lfi through the pltman 19, and

thence to the counter 27. The value of the gear train between the wheel 16-and the counteris such that the complete rotation of the wheel 16, caused by the movement of the carriage and subsequent resetting of the carriage, causes registration of the value which is prescribed as that of the coin or ticket for which the machine is adapted.

I have previously stated that latching of the-carriage in the set position is cliected by the latch stud 29 passing'across the top of the latch abutment 30,'and being arrested in that position by the trigger arm 3-9. If the trigger arm should not be in position to arrest the latch plate, the carriage wouldnot remain in set position, but would immediately make another trip and register another indication on the counter, without insertion of another coin. It may happen in some rare instance by an unusual combination of circumstances that acoin would be caught back of the trigger finger 21 and fail to pass though the passage, thus holding the trigger out of the way of the latch plate andpermitting another registration to be made without insertion of another coin, as last described.

.In order to prevent or 'retard the setting movement. of the carriage in these circumstances I'provide in the cam surface 45 of the pitman a'notch 59 so located that the end oft-he lever arm 42 enters it during the upward movement of the pitnian. Thatside of the notch which then comes to bear against the end of the lever is very slightly inclined to the lever arm and to the direction in which it moves when thus engaging said arm; its inclination being sufficient to act with a cam action in moving the lever when there is no obstruction in the way of the trigger, but not to move the lever if the latter is of rigid construction, or to move it against a greatly increased resistance if it is of springy and yielding construction, when the trigger is obstructed by a coin. The impedance thus given to the lever by the movement of the pitman either prevents the carriage being advanced far enough to become latched, or opposes so much resistance to the final setting movement, that the collector is warned in time to cease application of pressure to the said plunger and remove the obstructing coin, before bringing the carriage into the fully set and latched position.

The foregoingv description, and particularly those parts thereof which define the relations of various parts to one another, and their movements, with reference to the hori zontal and vertical, have been given with ref erence to the drawings, for convenience and clarity, and without limiting intent. The protection which I claim applies to the mechanism and essentially equivalent constructions without regard to the position which they may happen to occupy. My protection also includes equivalent members and structures in other machines than those adapted to be held in the collectors hand.

It is to be understood that ordinarily when the machine is provided for use, it is enclosed in a case which has an entrance slot for the coin at the upper end and an outlet at the lower end, the entrance slot being between the gripping fingers near their extremities, and so positioned that the passenger may push the coin far enough in to trip the latch. But as the present invention involves no change from prior constructions in regard to the casing, I have omitted illustration of the casing herein.

lVhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A register comprising a frame having a coin passage, a pair of grippers movably supported with respect to said frame and arranged at the opposite sides of the wider dimension of and within the entrance to said passage, whereby to receive the perimeter of a coin inserted between them, and means for setting said grippers to a distance apart at their extremities less than the widest part of such coin.

2. A register comprising a frame having a passage adapted to receive a relatively wide and thin article the width of which differs at different distances back from its advancing end, a pair of grippers movably mounted with respect to said frame having engaging portions adapted to travel from a position near the entrance to said passage and within the same into another positionwithin said passage,- said engaging portions being separated from one another, when in-the first position, by a distance wide enough to receive a wider partof such article, and means for shiftingone of saidgrippers to narrow the distance between said engaging portions. 3. A register comprising a frame having a coin passage, a carriage movably mounted withrespect to said frame, grippers mounted on said carriageat opposite sides of the wider dimension of said passage and having coin engaging portions nearer to one another than other parts of said grippers, means tending normally to hold the engaging parts of said grippers at a relatively wide distance apart, a lock for holding said carriage in a position where said grippers are near the entrance to said'passage, aspring tending constantly to withdraw said carriage to a position where the grippers are within the passage, a latch operable by a coin inserted between said grippers for releasing said lock, and means operable upon release of said latch for so mov ing one of the grippers as to diminish the width of the space between their nearest points.

4:. In a register, a frame having a coin passage, a carriage mounted on said frame, coin grippers mounted on said carriage and movable in said passage adjacent to opposite sides of the wider dimension thereof, a lock for holding said carriage with the grippers in such position adjacent to the entrance of said passage that a coin entering the passage will pass between the grippers, means for moving said carriage so as to withdraw the grippers into-the passage, one of the grippers being movable toward and away from the other, means for'placing said movable gripper at a relatively wide distance from the other gripper when the carriage is in the. locked position set forth, a coin operated trip for releasing said lock, and means operated by said lock when released for moving'the movable gripper toward the other gripper. i

5. In a register, a frame having a coin passage, a carriage, grippers mounted on said carriage and located in said passage at opposite sides thereof, one of said grippers being movable relatively to the carriage and having a cam portion, a lock plate connected to the carriage and having a cam rider to cooperate with said cam, and a spring acting. on said plate tending to move it so that its cam rider will travel over said cam.

6. Ina re ister a carriage, complemental grippers mounted on said carriage, one of which is movable so as to move toward and away from the other, a spring engaged with said movable gripper tending to move it away from theother, a cam associated with said movable gripper, and a cam rider mounted on said carriage and spring actuated to travel over said cam so as to shift the movable gripper toward the other gripper.

I. In a register, a frame having a coin passage, a carriage mounted movably on said frame, grippers carried by said carriage and movable therewith along said passage, one of the grippers being movable also toward and away from the other, an arm extending from said movable gripper and having a cam element, a spring acting on said arm tending to separate the movable gripper from the opposite gripper, a lock plate on said carriage cooperating with the frame to lock the carriage in a given position, a spring acting on said lock plate tending to move it out of locking position, and a cam rider on said lock plate cooperating with said cam element to displace the movable gripper toward the other gripper when the lock plate is so moved.

8. A register comprising a frame having a coin passage, a carriage movably mounted on said frame, coin grippers mounted on the carriage in said passage and arranged to embrace the perimeter of an inserted coin, a trigger mounted on the frame and extending across the passage adapted to be displaced by an inserted coin, a lock carried by the carriage for cooperating with the frame to hold the carriage in a position where said grippers are near the entrance to said passage, means tending constantly to withdraw the carriage from said position, means tending constantly to release said lock, a stop connected with said trigger for obstructing said lock when the trigger extends across the passage, one of the before named grippers being movable toward and away from the other to vary the width of the space between them and having an associated cam element, a spring acting on said gripper tending to move it away from the other gripper, a cam rider associated with said lock operating upon, the cam to move the movable gripper toward the other gripper when the lock is released, a lever coacting with said stop and trigger for placing them in the positions above set forth when the carriage approaches its set position, means associated with the arriage for so actuating said lever, and means controlled by the lever for obstructing such movement of the carriage when the trigger is obstructed by a coin in the coin passage.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature.

G'EQRGE F. ROOKE. 

